Ex-Gay Watch

Evangelist and conservative Christian activist Dr Michael L Brown is a little disappointed but mostly deliriously excited that the publishing world was “afraid to touch” his latest book.

The back cover of his self-published tome, A Queer Thing Happened to America: And What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been, lists blurbs by “a conservative pundit,” “a conservative publisher,” “a bestselling conservative author,” “the head of a New York City publicity firm,” “a publishing insider” and “a top literary agent” — all predicting what a flop Brown’s book would be.

To Brown, this is evidence that a gay agenda controls the media, making conservative publishers scared to publish this supposedly damning exposé of how homosexuals are destroying America, its faith and its families. Only to Brown, apparently, are blurbs like this a good thing: Read more…

We’ve met Dr Michael L Brown before. In The Fighting Words of Michael Brown, I analyzed the revolution- and battle-based rhetoric he uses to call evangelical Christians to rise up against gays and lesbians, and their rights. In Pedophilia, Hedonism & Impending Confusion, I revisited Brown’s anti-gay rhetoric and demonstrated how he misrepresented LGBT people with a classic “slippery slope” argument.

Now Brown is in the spotlight again with a book that claims to chronicle the rise of gay rights and, with the support of “massive research and extensive interaction with the GLBT community,” debunk the so-called homosexual agenda. A Queer Thing Happened to America: And What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been is, according to its author, a 700-page representation and demolition of the gay agenda, of which 100 pages are supporting footnotes.

Brown couldn’t find anyone to publish his book, a fact he puts down to fear. Read it and “find out why the publishing world was afraid to touch it,” he says. “Family values” apologist Bill Muehlenberg props up Brown’s theory in his enthusiastic review: Read more…

Subtitle: A Biblical and compassionate response to same-sex attraction.
Main authors and editors: Joe Dallas, Nancy Heche.

Part 1, Part 2

This book is an anti-gay training manual. A veritable bible on how to be the best anti-gay Christian you can be. There are a list of key points at the end of each chapter, some of which include mock debates.
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SUICIDE, BULLYING AND VIOLENCE

Nancy Heche on gay teen suicide:

Nancy Heche: A number of studies over the past decade have indicated that rates of suicide attempts, depression, and unhealthy behaviors are higher among gay teens than among their heterosexual counterparts … So the question we face is not “Where’s the blame?” Instead, it’s “Where’s the church?” [p353]

A’hem, Dr. Heche, what say you if the church is to blame?

She also writes the chapter on hate crime legislation. I realize the federal hate crimes law has already been enacted, but I think their defensive posturing on the matter deserves another healthy dose of attention.

Nancy Heche: So when we’re told that additional state and federal laws are statues are now needed, we should request the facts and documentation proving the point. [p439]

“facts and documentation?”

To quote Cecil Terwilliger of the Simpsons (Sideshow Bob’s younger brother):
Read more…

Subtitle: A Practical Guide for Men and Women Looking For a Way Out.

Alan Chambers: “On the conservative side we hear the claim that homosexuality is a choice. One can choose to be a homosexual or a heterosexual. On the other, more liberal side, we hear that there is no choice at all when it comes to homosexual behavior. It’s an inborn trait.” [p13]

In the first part of that paragraph, Chambers defines homosexuality as a state of being: “to be a homosexual.” Then switches gears, defines homosexuality as a behavior, and voilà, the pro-gay movement now considers sexual behavior to be as uncontrollable as an epileptic attack.

Doublespeak: evasive, ambiguous language that is intended to deceive or confuse.

Not much new in this book. It’s mostly a stylish retelling of the ”freedom” from same-sex attraction consists of celibacy through Jesus Christ” story.

Though I don’t get into it in any depth here, we do get a little insight into Chambers’ “dysfunctional” past, and of course, his torturous traverse down “leaving homosexuality” lane.

From the preface; “Another Option”:

Alan Chambers: …My prayer is that either now or in the near future you’ll want to join those of us who have decided against building a life based on sexual attraction and, instead, decided to follow… …Jesus Christ…

“and, instead”, or in official Exodus terms, “the opposite of.”

Mentioned throughout, verbatim and in many other combinations, their favorite dodge:

The opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality, it’s holiness

Intended or not, the promotional message is the same: same-sex attraction is unholy.

Unholy: base, blameful, corrupt, culpable, depraved, dishonest, evil, godless, guilty, heinous, immoral, impious, iniquitous, irreligious, irreverent, irreverential, profane, sinful, ungodly, unhallowed, unsanctified, vile, wicked

In regard to Chambers’ prayer (“no matter where you are in the continuum of homosexuality”) to “instead” follow Jesus Christ, I would say that to judge someone else’s relationship with God, is to judge God’s relationship with them.

Chambers often refers to his own… … …as “the gay life.”

Though he does acknowledge the existence of our long term relationships…sort of…

Alan Chambers: There’s no doubt that acting out sexually is an easy—but extremely fleeting—fix for the pain caused by no intimacy. But the speed that such acting out becomes first a habit and then a lifestyle makes it dangerous. Have you realized that a life of brief sexual encounters or even extended same-sex relationships doesn’t ultimately make for a life of relational satisfaction? [emphasis added, p58]

Read more…

The current economic situation has affected every individual, business, and organization in America – including ex-gay organizations. I recently even received a newsletter from Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH), virtual tzedakah box in hand. This is the first JONAH email I have ever received after more than a year of scrutinizing them, as well as being in contact a couple of times by email – while courteous, they were (understandably) not exactly welcoming of me. They know I’m not a friend to their organization; I can only assume one of two things: That they sent me the email by accident, or that they are so desperate for donations that they are even reaching out to people who actively oppose their cause. XGW has reasoned that groups like Exodus – which only a month ago laid off one of their high-profile employees – are not only feeling the economic chill, but are also feeling the effects of changing attitudes. This does not just apply to gays as a segment of the human race, but to scripture as well. I am heartened to say that I have found such a changing attitude in my local bookstore.

Jews don’t “read” the Torah. We study the Torah. That is why books like Richard Elliott Friedman’s Commentary on the Torah are so crucial to Jewish spirituality: They take the words of the Torah (known to Christians as the first five books of the Bible – the Books of Moses), held to be of Divine influence and written in the language of Men, and help the reader of those words to understand. Each Torah portion, or parashah, might only be a couple of lines. But the interpretations of a single portion might be several paragraphs. Studies like Friedman’s are part of a rich tradition of Jewish Theology. The main point that separates Jewish from Christian traditions, despite use of the same text, respectively, is not Jewish rejection of Jesus as an authority but rather the implementation of such ancient texts as the Mishnah and the Talmud – whose authority Christians reject.

I knew I wanted to buy a Torah Commentary book when I was in the bookstore. How did I decide on Friedman’s text? I went straight to the passage that is most difficult for gay Jews and Christians: Leviticus 18:22. Upon reading Friedman’s response, I knew I had found my purchase.

In the present state of knowledge concerning homosexuality, it is difficult to justify its prohibition in the Torah. All of the movements in Judaism (and other religions) are currently contending with this issue. Its resolution ultimately must lie in the law of Deuteronomy that states that, for difficult matters of the law, people must turn to the authorities of their age, to those who are competent to judge, and those judges must decide (Deuteronomy 17:8-9).

This opens up a wealth of possibility in bringing the wisdom of Torah into the modern age. Instead of shunning one another as “unbelievers” of a sort, religious leaders and secular leaders can work together. Read more…

As a young gay man steeped in the evangelical subculture, Patrick Chapman grew up feeling deeply conflicted about his sexual orientation. As so many individuals in his situation do, he poured much of his time and energy (and a decade of his life) into attempting to become heterosexual, first through pastoral counseling and later through an ex-gay ministry. And as with most who pursue that path, he was forced to rethink the assumptions he had been taught when it became apparent that the change he was promised was never going to happen.

Although Dr. Chapman’s life experiences are not the primary focus of Thou Shalt Not Love: What Evangelicals Really Say to Gays, his firsthand understanding of ex-gay ministries – and the evangelical subculture that spawned them – helps to make his book a vital resource for anybody hoping to better understand why the gay and evangelical communities are so sharply at odds, and why the term “gay Christian” isn’t the oxymoron that so many evangelicals insist it must be. Read more…

September is the release month for several items that may be of interest to the XGW community:

 -Peterson Toscano’s recently retired stage show, Doin’ Time in the Homo No Mo’ Halfway House, is now available on DVD.

-Save Me, the ex-gay-themed movie starring Chad Allen, is being screened in selected cities over the next two months. The release schedule is posted here.

-Regular XGW readers will remember Patrick Chapman from his critique of the Jones-Yarhouse study last year.  Dr. Chapman’s new book, Thou Shalt Not Love: What Evangelicals Really Say to Gays, is being released by Haiduk Press later this month.

-Candace Chellew-Hodge, editor of Whosoever magazine, has also written a book.  Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians is now available through Amazon.com.

The late Mike Yaconelli spent much of his life worried that he wasn’t spiritual enough.  Despite his many efforts to be a better Christian, the best he ever seemed to manage was “a stumbling, bumbling, clumsy kind of following.”  Spirituality remained an eternally elusive state of being that was always just out of grasp.

Most churches reinforce this perfectionistic line of thinking, setting high standards for how their members should look and act and offering countless formulas for “godly” living that never quite work as well as advertised.  The end result is pews full of people with smiles permanently in place who know all the right things to say to hide the disarray and dysfunction that lie just below the surface.

Yaconelli’s epiphany came when he realized that spirituality wasn’t a matter of having one’s life perfectly sorted out or of fitting into the mold of what a “good Christian” is supposed to look like.

Spirituality is not a formula; it is not a test. It is a relationship. Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy. Spirituality is not about perfection; it is about connection. The way of the spiritual life begins where we are now in the mess of our lives. Accepting the reality of our broken, flawed lives is the beginning of spirituality not because the spiritual life will remove our flaws but because we let go of seeking perfection and, instead, seek God, the one who is present in the tangledness of our lives. Spirituality is not about being fixed; it is about God’s being present in the mess of our unfixedness.

Messy Spirituality (recently re-released by Zondervan Publishing) is Yaconelli’s challenge to a church that values conformity over authenticity, perfection over compassion and formula over relationship.  Most evangelical churches would argue that they uphold a vision similar to Yaconelli’s, yet in practice few allow people the freedom to be where they’re at without pushing them to strive toward some fixed standard of perfection.  Uniqueness is sometimes praised but more often condemned.

Similarly, many ex-gay ministries teach what appears to be a grace-filled message that encourages participants to share openly about their struggles while growing at their own pace according to God’s timing.  In practice, however, only a handful of these ministries genuinely leave room for individuals to engage directly with God; the end result of that engagement has been predetermined according to a particular interpretation of a select set of biblical passages, and anyone who reaches different conclusions is automatically deemed unworthy of membership in the body of Christ.

Yaconelli (perhaps wisely) does not address the issue of homosexuality in his book, aside from including GLBT individuals in a list of various groups that churches commonly ostracize (to his credit he uses the term “gay or lesbian” rather than the various euphemisms that evangelicals typically substitute).  As a result, readers will bring their own conclusions with them as to how homosexuality should be addressed by the church.

Yaconelli’s vision of “messy spirituality” does, nonetheless, suggest a framework that we can use to live with fellow Christians who disagree with us on this (or any other) issue.  Having been granted the freedom to be where we’re at as individuals, we can in turn extend that same grace to others, encouraging them to pursue God (and to be pursued by him) without the need to dictate to them what that must look like, or what conclusions they have to reach.

It’s an imperfect solution, but then again, it’s an imperfect world.

The Right Reverend Gene Robinson, the Anglican Church’s first openly gay bishop, will visit the UK for a 10-yearly global Anglican gathering this summer, despite having been officially uninvited.

The Lambeth Conference takes place in England in July and August, and will bring together hundreds of Anglican bishops from across the world. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, made it clear that Bishop Robinson was not welcome on the grounds that those who cause “exceptionally serious division or scandal within the Communion” can have their invitations withdrawn.

Robinson’s consecration as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 precipitated a worldwide division that still threatens to split the Anglican Communion permanently.

He will use his UK visit to promote his memoir, In the Eye of the Storm, and will attend the UK premiere of For the Bible Tells Me So, a US-made documentary about homosexuality, the Church and the Bible, in which he also features. Afterwards, he and gay Lord of the Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen will take part in a public discussion about gays and religion.

The Bishop marries his partner of 20 years, Mark, next month. “I always wanted to be a June bride,” he once told an audience, confessing that “as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew there’d be trouble.”

H/T: Dave Walker at Church Times.

Welcome to the Ex-Gay Watch Bookshelf, a new feature and an opportunity for the XGW staff to share books we’ve been reading that may be of interest to our readers.

First up, Gay Christian 101 by Rick Brentlinger. A former Baptist minister, Brentlinger is more theologically conservative than most pro-gay apologists. Although no book, no matter how persuasively written, is likely to sway those whose opinions on this topic have already been set in stone, Brentlinger’s conservative approach may gain him an audience among some who have dismissed other pro-gay authors as “too liberal.”

 Brentlinger addresses all of the biblical passages commonly cited in this debate (Gen. 1-2; Gen. 19; Lev. 18:22 & 20:13; Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 6:9 and 1 Tim. 1:10), examining the cultural and linguistic contexts of each one in depth. He also addresses – and dismantles – the complementarian theory that has become popular in some evangelical circles.

Having addressed the standard anti-gay arguments, Brentlinger turns his attention to arguing for a gay-positive interpretation of several biblical passages: the story of Jonathan and David (1 Sam. 17 and following), the story of the Roman Centurion (Matt. 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10) and Jesus’ mention of eunuchs (Matt. 19:12). Though Brentlinger, by his own admission, cannot make as solid an argument for his interpretations of these passages as he can for the others, he does present a stronger case than any I’ve previously seen for the idea that the Bible contains gay-positive stories.

Gay Christian 101 was self-published by Brentlinger, which possibly explains the lack of an index. Readers who want to refer back to a specific argument or citation will have to skim through the book to find it, a task lengthened even further by the lack of page numbers in the table of contents. Brentlinger’s habit of repeating key points (not counting summaries) may also be distracting to some readers.

Aside from those minor complaints, Gay Christian 101 is a useful resource for those in the process of examining what the Bible says about homosexuality, and a well-researched counterpoint to the books and articles promoted by groups like Exodus and Focus on the Family. Whatever conclusions one ultimately reaches, Brentlinger’s case is worth considering.